Matt Millen pours some more salt in the Lions’ wounds

Posted by Mike Florio on November 18, 2010, 10:03 PM EDT

We’ve mentioned once or twice (or more often) in the past our amazement with the fact that former Lions G.M. Matt Millen has managed to finagle not one nor two but three jobs in the media after getting pay raises and contract extensions while he was gleefully steering the franchise into icebergs.

It drives Lions fans crazy, to say the least.

And if they don’t like that, any Lions fans watching Thursday night’s Bears-Dolphins game possibly pumped a buck shot into their plasma screens after Millen piled over-the-top praise on Bears defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli near the end of the first half.

“That guy is one of the best coaches I’ve been around,” Millen said.

Yeah. The guy who took the Lions to the only 0-16 record in NFL history, with the team that Millen built. They should re-name the Super Bowl trophy after him.

After Millen finished his shamefully gratuitous endorsement of Marinelli, play-by-play man Bob Papa said dryly, “And you had him as your head coach in Detroit.”

Nothing in Papa’s tone of voice suggested it, but we’ve got a feeling he was thinking precisely what the rest of us were thinking.

37 Responses to “Matt Millen pours some more salt in the Lions’ wounds”

Slim Charles says:Nov 18, 2010 10:11 PM

All you retards who side with the owners in the NFL labor drama would do well to read this piece a few times. If a player screwed up a third as many times as Millen did he’d be working at McDonalds, but some moron owner wasn’t suitably convinced to get rid of Millen after years of losing. Know why? Because owning an NFL franchise is a license to print money. Maybe if there’s a lockout because of greedy owners you tards can watch a flag football game between Jerry Jones and Art Modell.

You can blame the coach sometimes but not in this case, even though 0-16 is pretty bad the only blame goes to Millen and the Fords for keeping him or giving him a chance in the first place. The funny thing is any average fan could do as bad a job as he did and better in alot of cases and that is not a stretch.

aaronxxpatriots says:Nov 18, 2010 10:14 PM

Poor Bob Papa

Rex Grossman says:Nov 18, 2010 10:14 PM

And Da Bears are pouring more salt in your PFT pick em wounds. When will you learn?

jeffrey723 says:Nov 18, 2010 10:15 PM

Idiot. I change the channel or throw something at my TV every time he’s on. Of course he thinks Marinelli is a good coach, he’s the idiot who hired him.

Who thinks Millen has any credibility? Who is listening to him?

Rex Grossman says:Nov 18, 2010 10:16 PM

BEARS have the best defense in the NFL what’s up!

Rex Grossman says:Nov 18, 2010 10:20 PM

But really you’re right about Millen. He is the GM equivalent of Jamarcus Russell. And that is not a funny

giablommi says:Nov 18, 2010 10:41 PM

The combonation of Matt Millen and Joe Theismann in the booth may be the most unlistenable broadcast combo I’ve ever heard in 20+ years of watching football telecasts .

Millen in particular is garbage. Speaking of self promotion, how many times can he reference Penn State in one telecast? Just awful

Ralphie says:Nov 18, 2010 10:47 PM

This guy is the nuclear cockroach. You can’t kill him. Always lands on his feet, always walks between the raindrops. Incredible. After a while you stop getting pissed at him and actually become jealous.

jaggedmark says:Nov 18, 2010 11:03 PM

I’ll be you NEVER HEAR Rod Marinelli say, “Matt Millen is one of the best General Managers I’ve been around.”

mvlonergan says:Nov 18, 2010 11:17 PM

Good for Papa. Millen is a joke. cmr123 is right. The average fan could say “only draft the best offensive or defensive lineman on the board” and Detroit would have been a better team than the Harrington-Rogers-Williams-Williams quatrain o’ poo.

realitypolice says:Nov 18, 2010 11:22 PM

Marinelli is a great coach.

Just not a great head coach.

He’s another one of these guys who have the particular skill set that makes them great coordinators (0r position coaches) but terrible head coaches:

I’m sure there’s more, but I’m tired and drunk and kind of forgot what my point was.

Good night.

arnoldziffel says:Nov 18, 2010 11:31 PM

Did Millen get some kind of commemorative ring for that big 0-16 season … Some big shiny bastard with a piece of gravel for the stone?

odds75to1 says:Nov 18, 2010 11:43 PM

Holy crap, am I glad for once that I don’t get NFL network! That is worse than having Millen do the MSU vs UM game – some people should not have the right to a job in the NFL!! I love the “they should rename the superbowl trophy after him” jab…well done.

And yes, Ford is a serious problem, if he sells the team (or transfers ownership to Jr.), we will be a contender!

Those of you who wish to tell us Lions fans to let it go, or whatever have never had to deal with the level of ineptitude that went on here during the Millen years, you have NO idea.

xtb3 says:Nov 18, 2010 11:44 PM

Exactly! Like Daniel Manning never hit that hard before Marinelli was with the Bears. I swear I thought exactly the same thing listening to that BS artist. The other one Thiesmann, back to praising Vick again now as the “greatest performance ever by a QB in his eyes” must forget how many times he used to constantly call Vick “special” over and over and over before he was fired from ESPN/ABC.

If everyone is thinking it, then someone do something. Letting Millen “analyze” the NFL is like letting Bernie Madoff be the head watchdog for the SEC. He’s proven he is not able. He was a gritty, overachiever as a LB. He was John Madden’s favorite player, his chosen successor. Maybe we’d be playing “Millen ’12” next year if he hadn’t taken the job “running” the Detroit Lions. When I say, “running”, I mean, “…in to the ground”. Not hardly even one player he drafted seems to exhibit any of the traits that he himself seemed to have as a player. Is it possible to be so bad that randomly choosing draft picks using a dart board with names affixed to it, a dart, and using that dart while entoxicated, are the only way to get worse at choosing talent on draft day? I’m not sure we’d get a worse result. We could randomly choose a fan, maybe even a Bears fan, have them choose for us- and still do better. That is the kind of incompetence we endured as Lions fans. To now endure the hypocrisy of our former “braintrust”, is insulting, and P.S.-doesn’t anyone else remember how bad of a GM he was? Worst EVER? “Let’s give him that analyst job, Mr. Knowsnothing, I’m sure no one will notice”. Everyone gets it. It just makes us Lions fans a little more queesy. Maybe it’s William Clay Ford who runs the TV stations, too. Lucky us.

odds75to1 says:Nov 18, 2010 11:53 PM

@comebackbarry that’s probably why only 1 single Millen draft pick remains on the team, and that’s 1 out of how many? Yeah, sigh.

desertvike says:Nov 18, 2010 11:57 PM

Matt Millen makes me want to puke during the thursday night games. He sucks. So glad to hear that I am not the only one he was sickened while Millen talked of Marinelli. I do not remember Marinelli ever doing anything positive. His defenses were obismal. I still remember how they would show Millen up in the box when the lions were losing every week and he had the same dumbfounded look on his face each time. He is clueless. Listening to him & Thiesman is a tough chore without drinking!

Funny that a lawyer wouldn’t pick up on the omission of a very important word: “head”. Millen said “one of the best coaches” and NOT “one of the best head coaches.”

Marinelli, if you recall, has been touted as one of the best defensive line coaches in the NFL.

Keep in mind that being a “head coach” is less about coaching players to play, and more about managing the team.

Marinelli may be a good (or even great) coach, but that doesn’t mean he can manage teams as opposed to a fewplayers. Just look at Gary Kubiak. Or Wade Phillips. Or any other hotshot coordinator that suffers in mediocrity after getting a head coaching job.

snnyjcbs says:Nov 19, 2010 1:01 AM

He really has more right being around the NFL then you guys do. He was a great MLB, has won Super Bowl Rings with multiple Teams and is great on the tube.

So the GM deal was not his gig, so what. The one to blame for the Lions deal is the owner that should have fired him long before he did not Millens. And Marinelli is a good coach, remember your Hero in New England was a failure and Bum during his time with the Browns.

Millen gets the jobs because he is very good at what he does, Lion Fans like it or not. After all the Lions stunk long before he ever got there.

Mike, thanks for keeping evergreen the truth that Millen was the piece of garbage that ran the Lions into the ground. It’s shameful that he has a job and I would imagine that Papa goes back to the hotel and takes a long, hot shower to wash off the stench of the three hours of bile that Millen spews. Any Lion fan will tell you it is impossible to listen to any broadcast that he’s a part of without becoming ill. Matt Millen, three jobs—Only in America.

Millen is terrible for all of the reasons people have mentioned here. There’s not much more I can add to it than that.. BUT the one who drives me insane in that booth more than anything is Joe Theismann. This guy is unbelievable.. He can’t say a sentence without somehow working himself into it! I know there is value in color commentary for demonstrating knowledge that you have as a former player, but we all know he played.. WE DON’T NEED TO BE TOLD EVERY TIME! It’s either “I used to play QB like this…” or “Michael Vick is amazing.. his athletic ability is great. I used to be an athletic scrambling QB as well” He even makes sure to reference the production meetings they have with EVERY coach.. It is so irritating to me, just like it was years ago on MNF. At least in my mind, that is why he was taken off of there before (or should have been) and I also think that’s why he has been floating in the wind since. He feels the need to stroke his ego at every turn. Meanwhile, Millen is on the other side stroking it to Penn State, 1st round WRs, and whatever else is in his mind because it clearly isn’t successful analysis of football.. that is for sure. I feel bad for Papa, not that I really care for him (or most PBP guys around for that matter).

odds75to1, who was the picks thats still there?? at least you can say the lions got a kings ransom for roy williams, and millen is by far the dummest bastard ive ever heard and i never liked him or theismann, oh god!!!!! he should be lucky l.t didnt kill his ass!!!!! joe t has never shut his mouth thats why he has the nickname “7-11″ and millen looks like dan dierdorff but neither one is a good analyst but they should either put sapp, sharpe and prime time as analysts and maybe people might be happy

No matter what media company hires Matt Millen, it cannot hide his record as the worst GM in all sports, not just football.

Of course it had a lot to do with the Ford Family keeping his incompetent butt around for as many years as they did (the rest of the NFC North was very appreciate of that) but in the final analysis, the NFL Network looks like just plain stupid for hiring him as a football “Analyst”.

maddog111 says:Nov 19, 2010 7:53 AM

Honestly, has there ever been a worse annoucing crew than this? Papa’s fine, but f me, how am I stuck listening to Theisman and Millen? What did I do to deserve this?

joepags says:Nov 19, 2010 8:05 AM

millen stinks!!!! i cant stand him on t.v., i cant believe someone hired him for t.v. this clown is horrible!!

The Thursday night crew on NFLN is even worse than the MNF crew. If Millen wants to keep his job, he needs to refer back to his playing days, not his GM days.

andyprough says:Nov 19, 2010 8:44 AM

@Florio – I’m looking at the stats today, and any team that had Calvin Johnson, Mike Williams and Roy Williams on their team at the same time right now would probably be top 5 in passing offense in the NFL.

randolph32 says:Nov 19, 2010 8:50 AM

Lucky Bob Papa, the other two in the booth are so bad they make him look GOOD, and that’s really hard to do!

comebackbarry20 says:
Nov 18, 2010 11:47 PM
If everyone is thinking it, then someone do something. Letting Millen “analyze” the NFL is like letting Bernie Madoff be the head watchdog for the SEC. He’s proven he is not able.
_______________________________

Well, pretty funny but analyzing games is far different from building a team. It does make you wonder if Millen would have drafted Dez Bryant over Suh and I think the best comedic use of Millen’s talents would be to have him on a draft show and let Mayock laugh at him and then put him in a dunk tank.

muchmaligned says:Nov 19, 2010 10:56 AM

@snnyjcbs,

You are either related to Millen or you are Millen. He is absolutely terrible as an analyst, GM and person. He has proven himself to be king of the douche bags. The sound of his voice is unbearable. He constantly butchers the language and has a penchant for making “off color” and downright offensive remarks.

The fact that you defend this clown suggests that there is something wrong with you, not all of the football enjoying public. The Lions were not a bad team before Millen and they sure as hell were not the embarrassment his mismangement turned them into.

To whom it may concern: Matt Millen is a fine color commentator, however, his attempts to pass himself off as an expert talent evaluator is ill-advised considering the damage done to the NFL Network’s credibility(unless intended as comic relief). If so, bravo.